Cold Lakers to see 4.39% tax increase in 2025: “It’s a tough pill to swallow.”

The City of Cold Lake passed its 2025 Budget on Tuesday night, leading to a 4.39 per cent tax increase for ratepayers in the next year. 

The total operating budget is estimated at just over $59 million, about a million dollars more than in 2024. On the capital side, roughly $18 million is set aside for projects, but most of the spending chips are pushed in with ongoing Lakeshore Drive work, the new Public Works shop, and wastewater treatment plant. 

The price tag over multiple years for those three projects are roughly $75 million.

But balancing the operating costs are a tougher job, with upticks in insurance costs, carbon tax, utilities, as well as salaries and labour. 

The biggest culprit is the RCMP’s increased costs after a renewed contract, and the provincial percentage of who pays what, which represent an increase of $515,000 alone. That, combined with additional security, is the impetus behind the 4.4 per cent figure. 

“It’s a tough pill to swallow. Everybody gets it on council. As a group, we don’t want to cut the level of service we’re providing everybody in Cold Lake,” Mayor Craig Copeland told Lakeland Connect on The Morning After. 

“Most of the money related to the increase is because of that. Also, the security that we used to have as a one-off type of thing, it’s close to $200,000 in private security that we’ll have driving around Cold Lake, and that’s also going into the operating side…that all compounds.”

Copeland says the 90 per cent cost to the City for RCMP is a big beef for the municipality, and how the cost changes due to the size of the community.

He argues the Alberta government should make changes to the formula.

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Clinic expansion

Now with the majority of the project spending going towards that large municipal infrastructure, one of the biggest new items is the expansion of the Cold Lake Medical Clinic.

In April 2023, the City’s deal to purchase the Glacier Gate clinic and run it as a Municipally Controlled Corporation was finalized. The idea being to improve access, recruit more doctors, and have greater decision making ability on healthcare within Cold Lake.

With an increase from two to five doctors, including one full-time physician, and a sixth doctor hoped to be on the way, the goal isn’t to stop there.

Construction for the expansion is estimated to cost $4 million, as well as costs for design and development documents before construction can begin.

“It’s very crowded now, and so which is good for up to half. And now we’re going to blow out and build quite a big building. And actually, there may be part of the building that will be like an empty shell, because our city is going to keep on growing. Our area is going to keep on growing. So it’s close to a $4 million touch. We’re going to have to borrow pretty much all of it,” said Copeland.

“We probably won’t see shovels in the ground until the fall of ’25.”

The capital budget lays out a total of $7.3 million in facility infrastructure, a hair over $5 million in roadway upgrades, and $1.2 million in fleet equipment upgrades.

Some of these items include a new cooling tower for the Energy Centre, as well as changing the location of the welcoming desk, signage for the North Arena, a new park development at Lakeridge Estates, and rehabbing the last remaining softball diamond and
dugouts in 2025.

PILT

The 12 year property tax dispute between the City of Cold Lake and Government of Canada could have a resolution in 2025, according to city notes.

Ongoing legal costs and fights have gone up for more than a decade, as the City believes the GoC is shorting them $1.2 million in property taxes, depending on the assessed value of certain 4 Wing assets.

That creates a hole in their budget.

It’s called Payment in lieu of Taxes, and since 2013, the City believes they are owed a total of $14.8 million. According to the City, the feds argue that CFB Cold Lake should be assessed as if it is an un-serviced, remote property.

The 2025 budget includes a million dollars allowance for uncollectible taxes due to this trend. The City has often trumpeted increased property taxes because of this unpaid portion from the federal government.

The matter will be heard by the Federal Court of Appeal in 2025.

“We hope in 2025 we’ll have closure on this file,” said Copeland.

“It’s an interpretation of the value of the land according to our assessor, the same assessor that looks at all the property in Cold Lake and just the federal government not necessarily agreeing with that assessment.

“Not the 4 Wing Commander, but the bureaucrats that are involved in the land assessment with the federal government. We just want them to pay their fair share of property taxes, like any resident. We’re optimistic.”

Cuts to bring taxes down?

The question of whether the City should look at reducing services in order to keep the tax figure down was asked to Copeland.

The free transit service is questioned by some, as well as reducing some hours at the Energy Centre, or

“If you wanted to close down transit, that’s a million dollars right there. That’s a five per cent cut on the taxes. But, talk to the people using transit, and it’s a lifeline right now for many, many people. The numbers are huge. It’s helping a lot of new Canadians adapt to being in Cold Lake. It’s also helping the student population. I ride the bus every once in awhile just to get a dose of reality. There’s times that bus is packed,” said Copeland.

“All those conversations are there during budget, but council wasn’t prepared to do any of that. We want to keep status quo. We’re quite comfortable with the level of service we’re providing.”